Maniero wrote:
Hey everyone,
I just hit 70 with my mage alt, and want to raid as fire with him. However, I need the crapload of primal fires to make the spellstrike and spellfire stuff, so I'm thinking I should respec to frost just to farm the primals?
The simple answer is probably NO. The complex answer is, well, complex. This is a matter of economics. Before you consider a respec, you need to know a few things.
1)How much gold would this require for me to buy the primals off of the AH?
2)How much time would it take me to farm the primals if I respec?
3)How much time would it take me to farm the gold needed to buy them if I don't respec?
And that's where the real math begins. Because now you have to calculate whether the cost of the respec is worth it or not. Calculate out whether you can farm the primals faster enough to make up for the monetary cost of the respec. If it takes, for instance, you 1 hour less to farm the primals than to buy them, then is that one hour worth the gold you spent to farm? Can you make enough gold in an hour extra time to pay off the respecs?
And you need to know if it would just be faster in the long run to farm something else and not respec.
You see, in this game, many people get into the farming mindset. They feel that farming what they need is the way to go as it "doesn't cost them money". But if you could farm something else that has a greater value per hour spent farming than the primal fire does, then it actually DOES cost you money to farm the primals. You've lost the extra money you could have pocketed from farming the other thing(s).
Let's take me, for example. I can farm a specific item(Large Brilliant Shards and other old world mats) at a rate that nets me about 120g in 45 minutes(including travel time). On the other hand, I can farm primal waters at a rate of about 75-80g in 45 minutes or so.
Obviously, the one is much better than the other, as I would be able to pocket the extra 35 gold. Or I could just spend less time farming for the same amount and have more free time to do what I want.
The situation gets murkier when you're farming and one choice requires a respec. You have to divide the amount the respec costs and divide it by the time you'll be farming with the respec.
Let's consider:
I can farm primal waters for 100g an hour. Let's assume I can farm primal fires for 110g an hour if I respec. Looks good, right? But now consider that the respec is gonna cost me a total of 45g(20 to; 25 back). And consider that I know I need to farm for 3 hours to get what I need. So let's math that out. 45g cost over 3 hours, and I have 15g per hour cost. That means that comparatively, primal fires actually work out to 95g an hour compared to the 100g an hour for primal waters. In the end, I actually lose out about 15g from the process that I could have made with the waters.
See what I mean?
So please don't lose yourself in that farming mindset and choose the path that will actually get you what you need the fastest. You pocketbook will thank you for it.